Abstract
Global change is becoming increasingly evident, and human activities are also causing severe damage to natural resources and the environment. Therefore, it is increasingly important to study regional sustainability in order to guide human decisions and actions. The ecological footprint is a useful indicator with which to quantify the pressures imposed by humans on natural resources and regional capacities for sustainable development. This paper analyzed the variations in the ecological footprints and capacity for regional development of five provinces in Northwest China in 2005–2014, based on the Wackernagel ecological footprint method, using the standard measurement of the national hectare. The ecological footprints of the five provinces were quite different, mainly because of the differences in arable land and fossil energy resources. The average ecological footprint in Shanxi was relatively high over the study period, at 22,549.86 thousand NHA, which had the greatest demand for natural resources, whereas that of Qinghai was relatively low, at 4163.20 thousand NHA. The ecological footprint in Northwest China increased from 57,770.19 thousand NHA in 2005 to 96,501.66 thousand NHA in 2014, predominantly attributed to the growth of the fossil energy ecological footprint (coal accounted for 72.88%, crude oil accounted for 14.97%, and coke accounted for 6.67%). The changes in the ecological footprint per 10,000 CNY gross domestic product, the ecological footprint diversity index, and the development capacity index in the study period revealed an increase in the comprehensive development capacity in this region, which should improve the regional capacity for sustainable development, but the stability of the eco-economic systems in Shanxi, Ningxia, and Xinjiang require improvement. This analysis provides the reference information for the construction of an ecologically viable civilization in Northwest China and the scientific foundation for the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative.
Highlights
Accelerating global change has become a hotspot and increasingly important for assessing sustainability in recent decades [1,2]
Sustainabilityp2r0o1v7i,n9c,e5s.97The average ecological footprint in this 10 years was highest in Shanxi, at 22,549.86 thousand national hectares” (NHA), whereas that of Qinghai was lowest, at only 4163.20 thousand NHA
This paper estimated the national average production of the major items of biological resource consumption, and analyzed the temporal and spatial variations in the ecological footprints and the overall regional development capacity of Northwest China from 2005 to 2014 using the theory and methods of ecological footprint analysis based on the NHA
Summary
Accelerating global change has become a hotspot and increasingly important for assessing sustainability in recent decades [1,2]. The ecological footprint reflects the human impact on the environment and allows the balance between the supply of and demand for economic resources to be evaluated and the level of sustainable development to be quantified [7,8]. Global hectares (GHA) are used for international analyses and comparisons but may not accurately reflect the actual situation when defining regional characteristics It may cause large errors in regional comparison, entailing problems in data acquisition and standardization on national, provincial, and municipal spatial scales [18,19]. Research into the ecological footprint of the Silk Road Economic Belt in Northwest China is an important way to measure the sustainable development status of the region, and is an important approach for implementing the national strategy. It is extremely important to provide a scientific basis for sustainable development strategies that can be employed in construction of the Silk Road Economic Belt in this area
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